In my teacher’s comments, it was words, and sometimes was reflected in my grades. In the standardized, computerized tests, it was GIGANTIC BARS that were almost HALF the length of all the other stuff. I would always see 60%, 63%, 59%, 65% – throughout the years on these tests. BUT NOBODY TOLD ME WHAT IT MEANT.

I don’t have #dyslexia
I don’t have any trouble learning new #vocabulary
I was always a creative writer even in 1st Grade; my wonderful 1st grade teacher commented how I would connect all of my new spelling words together into a story where they all were related to each other somehow, yet I also demonstrated knowledge of the meaning, even though all that was required was to spell the words correctly.

Yet these WEIRD QUESTIONS started showing up in either 2nd or 3rd grade and beyond. They’d give a paragraph and I’d have to answer, “What is the author’s intention?” “What did they mean when they said… blah?”

And I’d guess.

Hence the 60%. I guessed in elementary, middle and high school. Despite all the great testing scores (not always grades; but I was usually As with some Bs – I didn’t care about grades that much) – never in that mysterious “*reading comprehension* category.

So here we go. I decided to tackle #wtf that ever meant. Apparently I couldn’t comprehend it.

I found myself getting angry just reading this: HOW DO YOU KNOW HE’S EVIL? Sparks? Why does that make him dangerous? Powerful, maybe, but dangerous? Why is power dangerous? He’s just strong; and arcane symbols? To me that means he’s smart like a mathematician; he knows arcane symbols that I don’t know, and I find that to be pretty damned awesome.

The list of questions that follows was so ridiculous to me: Apparently I have a reading comprehension problem. I can’t #surmise way they want me to.

This gets me just as mad now as it did back then. It’s f’in #cultural IT’S #opinion IT’S… leading me to a particular #assumption about on this guy based on looks. Grrrrrr… still gets me mad.

And… if I do have a “problem”? Why am I 42 years old now and didn’t have a name for it? Where was my psychological testing? Where were the pills to cure my problem? a;woefijaw;oefijaEWOFA;WOEFJA;OWEIF Ok, I’m going to research the crap out of this. I think I’m understanding why I get worked up over #education – I didn’t mind school so much until these types of questions came along…. and kept coming along…. and either I have a real legitimate comprehension problem, which I might, according to that testing – or it’s a cultural thing that has nothing to do with intelligence but rather to do with thinking differently than the norm. Or maybe it’s something else. But I’m gonna find out. Read this crap below: maybe you agree with it. If you do, please explain it to me BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE BS to me, just like it did when I was in grade school… middle school… high school….
[START QUOTE]“To the right we have an illustration featuring a rather dangerous looking character.

How do we know he’s dangerous?

Well, anybody who has electric sparks shooting from his fingertips, has eyes hidden by deepening brows and is decked out in flowing robes, complete with arcane symbols no less, is not someone I’d be pleased to tangle with.

Some of the information we can infer from this illustration is that the character is probably a wizard of some kind, has supernatural powers, and is possibly from a sword and fantasy story.

This image has a large amount of information that can be surmised, or inferred. Let’s tease out some of those details.

1) He’s not an accountant, probably.

2) He doesn’t teach at Hogwarts.

3) He’s got a wicked temper.

4) He’s not the type to take in the washing…

5) He’s handy to have around when dragons come a hunting.

Perhaps the best method of teaching inferencing to your students is to pepper them with standard who, what, why, where, and when questions.

Some example questions…

1) Who is this man?

2) Why does he have sparks coming out of his fingertips?

3) What’s his PROBLEM?

4) Where is he?

5) When did this happen?

The beauty about the who, what, where, when, why series of questions is that there is no limit to the questions you can generate, and the answers students can provide.” [END QUOTE]

My response? fuck your inferring

[I got this from: http://www.speechlanguage-resources.com/teaching-inferencing.html – and I’m not blaming THEM; it’s something that gets taught in American schools, perhaps other cultures too. I don’t know. I don’t blame them. I think I found that “something deeper” that always bothered me about education… at least, one of the ones that gets me angry. The thing is, I always understood the inference, even back then. I know when someone is inferring something. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon. But I didn’t attach much *significance* to the intent they would lead me to, and so I’d just guess on those tests. (hence the 59%-64% I’d get on that section of every standardized test, quiz, etc on the topic). To me, each of the options seemed plausible. But which one is the most “likely?” Well, it never seemed fair to judge someone’s intent. in a single way like this. Still gets me mad to have been tested on it like that.. and they still do it. Maybe someone can explain its importance.